


Emotional Support Demons

by Light7



Series: Broken [3]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Demons, Dysfunctional Family, Family, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27060430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light7/pseuds/Light7
Summary: Vergil gets an emotional support demon or three.
Series: Broken [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815730
Comments: 38
Kudos: 113





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set several months after my fic Broken and Kinsukuroi.
> 
> Also references to the succubus is from my fic What Dreams May Come. It’s not officially part of this series but meh, I like a little tie in now and then. 
> 
> This was meant to be lighthearted I swear, but for some reason, this series always ends up depressing and chatty. 
> 
> For all my reviewers, who without I would have surely given up a long time ago.

“I need to talk to you… alone.”

Nero felt a chill run down his back, Dante hadn’t bothered with small talk or teasing. His voice was faint through the phone, but even quiet Nero could hear the exhaustion and the slur in his words. For Dante to be slurring he must have drunk an unreal amount of hard liquor. 

“Ok,” Nero said in what he hoped was a soothing tone. “Where?”

“The same bar as last time,” Dante hung up. Nero let out a sigh and asked Nico to turn the van around.

“What up?” she asked, pulling into a side road to turn around. Nero shrugged. “Aww don’t be like that, fess up.”

“I don’t know, he didn’t say,” Nero said.

“But you have a good idea?” Nico said, now exceeding the speed limit in a way Nero was certain would get normal people arrested, but apparently, Nico’s superpower was avoiding traffic cops. “I can tell, I know that frowny Nero face.”

“I don’t know,” Nero said. Nico glared at him. “Watch the road.” Nico continued to glare, not looking at the road. “Watch the… Fine!”

“See, I knew it,” Nico turned to face the road again. “You know.”

“I don’t know,” Nero said. “But yeah maybe, he wants to talk to me alone, so he doesn’t want Vergil there, and he wants to go to the same place as ‘last time’ so that can only mean one thing.”

“Whiskey and ice cream for dinner,” Nico nodded. “I’m telling Kyrie.”

“Don’t you dare! It’s not my fault!”

“Oh no, I’m telling your wife you're avoiding her cooking and drinking late with your demon friends, probably going to look at strippers to.” Nero shook his head and sighed. He couldn’t help the small smile though; Nico was trying to help in her own terrible way. She was a distraction if nothing else, a very successful one. By the time they reached the bar and he waved her off, Nero hadn’t brooded about Dante once on the journey.

“Took you long enough,” Dante grunted when Nero sat next to him. On the bar, there were three empty bowls that had likely contained ice cream. Nero didn’t count the empty shot glasses.

“What the hell, Dante?” he snapped. Dante leaned further down on the bar, Nero leaned over him, trying to get a look at the demon hunter’s face. He looked terrible, worse than Nero had ever seen him, and Nero had seen Dante eviscerated before. His skin was sallow, his eyes bloodshot and dark ringed, his hair lank and greasy.

“I can’t sleep,” Dante said. Nero blinked, then blinked again.

“Ugh, you realise I’m not a doctor, I can’t prescribe you sleeping pills.”

“Wouldn’t work anyway,” Dante said. “God, I’m such a hypocrite.”

“What the hell?” Nero said. “I mean yeah, you kind of are, but why this time?”

“Because,” Dante knocked back another whiskey. “I’m doing exactly what your pa did and not listening to my advice.”

“Vergil’s done a lot of things, you’ll have to be more specific,” Nero sighed when Dante waved down the barkeep who provided further ice cream and hard liquor.

“Not sleeping,” Dante said.

“Alright, why?” Nero asked. Dante took a deep breath and sat up straight.

“Turns out nightmares are contagious.”

“What?” Nero pinched the bridge of his nose. That was nonsense.

“Well, after the whole,” Dante waved his hands dramatically. “Thing with the town of demon people, I think it must have, I don’t know, shook something loose in him.” Dante snorted. “He was right though, that conversation was for our benefit, not his.”

“Get to the damn point,” Nero said. Dante hiccupped, and it sounded far too much like a sob that Nero’s frustration instantly vanished. He put a hand onto Dante’s shoulder and nudged the ice cream closer to him. “Eat your sugar.”

“Thanks,” Dante muttered, sounding utterly defeated. “Anyway,” he swallowed. “Like I said when we came back something had got shook up, maybe talking about it made him remember more I don’t know, but the nightmares got worse.” Dante sniffed.

“Ok, maybe it’s just a bad patch,” Nero said. “Like it had to get worse before it could get better.”

“You don’t get it, this is our fault. We made him talk about it, he was doing so much better and then we had to push him, and he’s got so much worse and now I’m...”

“Calm down,” Nero said. People were staring as Dante got louder in his apparent grief. Dante took a long moment and emptied the ice cream plate. Nero observed him. There had to be more to this, Vergil being in terrible shape would upset Dante, but not to this extent. There was something more.

“So,” Dante said, pushing the empty bowl away. “Turns out demon nightmares, when they get bad enough are contagious.”

“Nightmares are in your head,” Nero said. “They aren’t like germs; you can’t catch a case of nightmares.”

“Well, I did,” Dante said. “I dreamt about what must have happened to him when Mundus got him. At first, I thought it was just guilt, but I talked to him about it.”

“Good for you,” Nero muttered sincerely.

“Turns out he’d had the same dream, the exact same.” Dante huffed. “And then it happened again the next night, and again, and again.” The older devil hunter shivered. “You any idea what that’s like?”

“Can’t say I do,” Nero said.

“I got to see, in full technicolour, what happened to him when I let him fall into the demon world.”

Nero closed his eyes, clarity finally falling into place.

He’d known Dante for a long time before Vergil had come back, it had taken a long while, a lot of trust, a succubus and a hell of a lot of alcohol before Dante had told him the story of his brother and his fall into the demon world and subsequent confrontation on the island. It had been immediately apparent that Dante blamed himself for everything. In his eyes, he had let Vergil fall when he could have saved him, and he’d then murdered him on Mallet Island. The guilt ate him alive to the point where if he had been human, his subsequent alcoholism would have killed him.

“I see,” Nero said.

“No, you don’t,” Dante whispered. “But I do, I saw everything and felt it, and smelled it too.”

“Fuck,” Nero sighed, having no idea how to fix this.

“I broke down after the second week,” Dante muttered. “I just fell a-fucking-part, and he left.”

“Wait, what?” Nero said.

“Yeah, he’s gone,” Dante picked up an empty whiskey glass and waved it at the barkeep. “So I came here. Oi, barkeep!”

“No,” Nero said, taking the glass. “No more booze for you.” He stood up. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

The walk home was difficult, Dante staggered and stumbled every other step, and the guy was damn heavy. Nero had dealt with a tipsy Dante before but not paralytic Dante. Demon metabolism made it difficult for Dante to get properly drunk, which meant he must have worked hard to get into this state. Fortunately, he’d come out of it reasonably quickly now that there wasn’t fresh liquor getting into this system.

Devil may cry was a wreck.

Every bottle that normally sat behind the bar was empty and littered around the building. Nero ignored it, though the smell of stale booze made his eyes water. He helped Dante up the stairs, certain that the walk had probably burned off the bulk of the alcohol in his system and that the arm around his shoulders was clinging for emotional support rather than physical.

He helped Dante get out of his coat and boots and shoved him into the bed, pointedly ignoring how strongly the bed smelt like Vergil. Dante buried his face in one of the pillows and started snoring almost immediately.

“Thank you, Nero,” Vergil’s voice made Nero spin in place and let out an undignified squeak.

“Don’t do that!” Nero snapped. “Christ, if my hair wasn’t already white.” Vergil chuckled at him and turned and walked away. Nero waited a moment before following him.

He found Vergil downstairs, black bag in hand, picking up empty bottles and muttering unkind things about his brother. Saying nothing, Nero went and picked up his own black bag and started helping. It didn’t take long to clear the bottles. Nero saw to putting the bin bags outside while Vergil opened the windows to air out the place and booted up his laptop. Nero, still unsure of what to say, set about wiping up any remaining spills and putting the rest of the room in order.

“You needn’t worry,” Vergil said. “The housekeeper is in tomorrow.”

“You got a housekeeper?” Nero smirked. Vergil shrugged.

“I won’t live in filth, but I won’t be his maid either,” Vergil muttered gazing at his screen, Nero glanced over Vergil’s shoulder and saw he was buying a ludicrous amount of alcohol. Stupidly expensive alcohol too.

“That’s probably not the best idea,” Nero said.

“I’m having it sent to Mary,” Vergil said. “She can look after it until Dante’s able to be trusted.”

“Why replace…” Nero started.

“It is my fault he drank it, so it is my responsibility to replace it,” Vergil said. Nero sighed, he felt like he did a lot of sighing around his father and uncle.

“Dante said you left,” Nero said.

“Obviously false,” Vergil said, but leaned back away from the laptop and huffed. “Though not entirely. I assume he told you he has had trouble sleeping?” Nero nodded. “And the cause of this?” again Nero nodded. “Well then, it should be apparent, I merely left for a few nights so he could rest without disturbance.”

“Did you tell him that?” Nero said. Vergil glared at him. “You two are fucking terrible,” Nero snapped. “You realise how many of your problems would be solved if you just communicated a little.”

“It was clear,” Vergil said through his teeth. “I took none of my belongings beyond my phone, it was obvious I was coming back.”

“Did he call you?” Nero asked Vergil nodded. “You didn’t answer, I take it?”

“I was in a meeting with a client,” Vergil said.

“For a couple of days?” Nero pushed. Vergil said nothing. Nero shook his head and sat at the bar next to his father.

“He blames himself,” Vergil eventually said. Nero nodded, trying not to show his surprise at his father’s unprompted sharing. “He should not.”

“I know.”

“My mistakes were my own,” Vergil all but growled.

“Yup, they were,” Nero said. “But family is like that.”

“Foolishness,” Vergil said, his voice still low. Nero’s stomach suddenly rumbled. The sound went on far too long and was loud in the quiet room. When it eventually finished and Nero’s face was a delightful shade of pink, Vergil picked up the phone and handed it to Nero. “Get something with a lot of chilli and a lot of meat,” he muttered before standing and heading upstairs. Nero waited until he heard the shower running before he ordered the food, it delighted him to find that Vergil had an account with the pizza place, so Nero didn’t have to pay.

Vergil came down from the shower moments after the pizza arrived.

“I got you the meat feast with extra chillies,” Nero said around a mouthful of ham and pineapple. “I also got Dante’s usual and put it in the kitchen, he’ll be hungry in the morning.”

“Thank you, Nero,” Vergil said. Nero shivered a little, it was odd that such an innocent and polite phrase always made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Nero watched as his father started on his pizza, for all his refinement Vergil demolished pizza almost as fast as Dante.

“You gonna talk to him in the morning?” Nero said.

“There is nothing to say,” Vergil muttered, Nero, glared. “I cannot stop it from happening, it happens without my will. I cannot stop it.” He clenched his fist.

“So much for all your power, huh?” Nero raised an eyebrow when Vergil’s aura spiked, a dark cloud literally forming around him. The physical form of Vergil’s power writhed for a moment before Vergil took a deep breath and attempted to contain it.

“I am still lacking,” he muttered so quietly Nero almost missed it. “I need more.”

“No,” Nero said, trying to ignore the way his stomach turned into a ball of ice and almost fell out of him. “This isn’t something power can fix.” 

“I need power to be safe, to keep us safe, once I have enough then this will stop.” Nero frowned at his father, Vergil was supposed to be smart, Dante had always given him the impression that Vergil was the smart one. Talking with V, who was after all part of Vergil, had cemented that impression. V had been clever, well-read and educated. So, with that in mind, why was Vergil saying something so stupid.

Nero tried to think of what to say and came up blank.

Vergil thought his nightmares happened because he didn’t feel safe, ignoring for a moment how something like Vergil could not feel safe when he had enough power to rule the demon world should he so choose. The theory was incorrect. But how to make Vergil understand that Nero had no idea.

“Did V have nightmares?” Nero asked, then blinked. He wasn’t sure where that idea had come from. Vergil flinched at the question, staring hard at Nero.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I admit I don’t quite recall everything that happened.”

“Being split in half will do that, I suppose,” Nero said. “But its strange, isn’t it? That V, someone who had no real physical power of his own, wouldn’t have this problem.”

“Make your point,” Vergil snapped.

“This isn’t anything to do with power,” Nero stressed. “It’s more like, well, dealing with shit that happened. You can’t ignore it, it won’t go away no matter how much power you get, the shits already happened, and you need to deal with it before…”

“Before it destroys Dante,” Vergil interrupted.

“I was going to say you,” Nero said. “But yeah,” Vergil said nothing, but he looked to the landing toward Dante’s room. “Look,” Nero rubbed the back of his neck. “Despite what Dante says I’m not a therapist, I don’t know what to do about this, but it’s pretty obviously some kind of PTSD or something and maybe talking to a real…”

“Out of the question,” Vergil snapped.

Nero shrugged, it was a long shot he knew, and he understood why talking to a professional wouldn’t appeal to someone like Vergil. Besides, what could he say? ‘I’m a half-demon warlord who was captured and tortured for twenty years by the demon king. After which my brother murdered me, but I survived and came back, mutilated my son and killed many people to grow fruit so I could get enough power to feel safe again. Oh, and there’s probably some childhood trauma from when demons killed my family when I was little, and I spent years thinking my family had saved my brother over me and abandoned me.’ Yeah, that was probably not going to work.

“What did V do differently?” Nero said. “He never seemed…” Nero gestured at Dante’s bedroom and then at Vergil.

“Broken?” Vergil raised an eyebrow. “I recall V seemed very broken.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Nero said. “Stop avoiding the question. V was physically damaged but other than that he seemed together… kind of.” Nero snorted a laugh. “You know I once saw him dancing on the battlefield, a scrawny human asshole prancing around while hell erupts around him.” He couldn’t help but laugh, he was very surprised when Vergil joined him.

“Yes, well, I cannot account for his sanity,” Vergil said, mirth still colouring his voice. “But V was always safe in battle, he had…” Vergil trailed off.

“He had demons of his own,” Nero finished for him. “The smart-arse bird and the big cat thing, damn that thing had a nasty bite.”

“It bit you?” Vergil frowned.

“Hell yeah, V fell asleep in the van and Nico drives like a lunatic. He was gonna fall off the seat, so I went to push him back a bit, you know,” Nero felt his face heat with blush. Vergil had a flash of a small smile, Nero was often kind to V, protective almost. “Then out of nowhere, this massive damn cat thing lunges at me, all shadows and sharp bits. Asshole bit me. The chicken thought it was funny. Cat thing glared at me until V woke up though.” Vergil snorted quietly and stood up, his back cracking as he stretched.

“Will you stay here tonight?” he asked. Nero nodded.

“If that’s cool, Nico dropped me off and ran,” he stood, eyeing the sofa.

“You may take my bed,” Vergil said. “I’ll stay down here tonight.”

“I thought you slept with…” Nero started. Vergil shook his head.

“Let him sleep peacefully if he can, he needs the rest,” Vergil said.

“Then I’ll take the sofa,” Nero said. He was about to point out he was younger but stopped when Vergil shook his head.

“My bed is too close to him,” Vergil said, gesturing to Dante’s room. Nero was quiet for a long moment, before heading towards the stairs. He stopped at the bottom and faced his father.

“We’ll fix this,” Nero breathed. “I’m not sure how, but we’ll figure it out. Things, well, they will be fine soon.” Vergil snorted quietly again, and Nero went upstairs. As he reached the landing, he saw Dante standing in the doorway to his room. He still looked like shit and stank of booze, but his eyes were clear, and he was sober now.

“You’re a good kid,” Dante said before turning back and heading into his bed. “Fuck knows how Vergil’s your pa.”

“Go to bed, you drunk,” Nero said, closing Dante’s door and heading to the old spare room which had since become Vergil’s room.

***

“Rise and shine, sweet cheeks.”

The voice was one Nero knew; it was grating and strangely pitched, both deep and painfully high at the same time. Nero rolled over, refusing to open his eyes. The bed was warm and comfortable. It had been a long exhausting day yesterday, and no way did he want to get up yet.

“Hey!” the voice snapped, it sounded close, inches away from Nero’s ear kind of close. Nero batted at it, his hand colliding with something warm, oddly soft and… feathery? “I said rise and SHINE!” the last word was screamed, and Nero flew upright as electricity sparked through him. Something had shocked him!

He blinked a few times to clear the bleariness out from his eyes. There was a bird on his headboard, an oversized split beaked demonic fucking bird. What was worse was that Nero recognised him.

“Nero!” the shout was Dante, and he sounded angry. Nero stumbled out of the bed, still frowning at the bird that was now giggling at him. He watched the bird until he left the room.

“Dante?” he found his uncle with a towel around his waist on the upstairs hallway. “At least you smell better now, what’s wrong?” A dripping Dante pointed to the top of the stairs.  
At the top of the stairs, sitting perfectly still was a solid black panther. If panthers were massive and caused the surrounding shadows to twist and writhe unnaturally. The big cat yawned at the two men before it, revealing pitch black teeth.

“Um…” Nero managed.

“It won’t let me go passed,” Dante said. “I want to go to the kitchen and this thing won’t let me.” Dante glared at the cat. “It’s my house, asshole.”

Nero took a step forward, and the cat rumbled at him, but he took another step, this time to peer over the bannister down into the living area. Vergil was asleep with a ten-foot rock golem curled around the sofa.

“Ok,” Nero said. “I think we need to wake up my father.”

End Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please review, I’d love to hear what you think of the chapter.  
> For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out [my website](https://katiemarie21.wordpress.com)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, we get the little lighthearted ditty I was intending all along. 
> 
> Huzzah.

Waking up Vergil proved to be problematic. Shadow would not let them pass. Every step one of them took towards the top of the stairs resulted in a deep growl from the oversized demonic cat. The closer Dante got, the louder the growls became, and when the growls reached a decent volume, a strange gurgling, grinding sound joined in, which Nero quickly discovered was the huge golem thing by the sofa joining in the aggression.

“What’cha doing?” Nero jumped at the shrill voice right by his ear. The damn bird, Griffon, had emerged from his bedroom and was perched on the bannister next to Nero, who was trying to drop things down onto his father to wake him. Vergil had slept through having three pillows dropped on him and one of Dante’s boots.

“Trying to wake your… owner, master, whatever Vergil is,” Nero muttered. Griffon fluffed his feathers.

“Why?” he said, his tone sharp as if it upset him that they would try to wake Vergil.

“So, he can call you three off. Dante wants to go to the kitchen,” Nero muttered, aiming and dropping another boot. This one hit Vergil in the stomach. He did not wake, but he rolled over this time, more of a reaction than Nero’s other attempts.

“There’s pizza in that kitchen and after the month I’ve had I deserve breakfast pizza,” Dante all but snarled, not taking his eyes off the cat which was now standing and snarling. The great cat glanced at Griffon and yowled.

“The soft kitty says no, I’m afraid.”

“Why!” Dante snapped, rounding on Griffon. He grabbed the bird by its neck and lifted it. Griffon flapped his wings to free himself, but did not attack. 

“Genius here has this funny idea,” the bird chocked out. “That you want to hurt him.” Dante let go of the bird. Griffon fell to the ground and wheezed for a moment. “Not sure where it got that idea from.”

“I will not hurt Vergil,” Dante said through his teeth. “I just want some breakfast.”

“You’ll wake him up though,” Griffon said, hopping back up to the bannister, none the worse for wear despite Dante’s roughness.

“Debatable,” Nero said. “Apparently he’s a heavy sleeper.”

“He’s not,” Dante whined. “He’s awake, he’s just faking it to stop me getting my breakfast.”

“Nope,” Griffon said. “He’s like the proverbial log.” Dante took another step to the stairs and Shadow swiped at him, letting out a deep growl.

“I’m going to turn you into a rug,” Dante said, his sword materialising in his hand. Shadow crouched close to the ground, his form losing cohesiveness, ready to fight.

“Bloody stop it,” Nero snapped. “Who cares if Vergil wakes up, waking someone up isn’t hurting them.” The enormous cat yowled again, not taking its eyes off Dante, who was circling round to its flank.

“Kitty says it is when he’s not slept since he left the underworld.”

“Bullshit, Vergil’s slept since then,” Nero snapped.

“Not properly, not without nightmares,” Griffon fluffed himself up. The cat yowled at him again, this one sounding angry. “Yeah, yeah I know I fucked up, leave me be.” Again, the cat yowled, swiping at Dante but its eyes on Griffon. “Screw you!” Griffon shrieked. “It wasn’t just my decision; I didn’t hear you argue.”

The big cat stepped forward, away from Dante and towards Griffon who opened his wings, sparks of electricity flitting over his feathers. Dante made a delighted whoop and darted downstairs, leaping over the massive golem before it could react and disappearing into the kitchen.

“Well, at least that’s one problem solved,” Nero muttered, then yelped as Shadow leapt at Griffon. The two went over the bannister in a flurry of feathers and smoke. They landed on the golem which roared and batted them away, shielding Vergil who was still asleep.

Nero felt his frustration reach its peak, and he leapt over the bannister, spectral arms forming before he hit the ground. One hand grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck, the other grabbed Griffon by the talons.

“Settle down!” he snapped. “For someone who didn’t want to wake my father, you’ve got a funny way of acting.” He shook both familiars roughly when they still tried to kill each other. Both of them went limp, Nero glared at them before letting go. Shadow let out a quiet chuff at Griffon, it’s tail lashing in anger, before padding over to the sofa and jumping up, settling down on top of Vergil who had rolled onto his back again. Nero frowned, that could not be comfortable, that cat was no lightweight, but Vergil just kept sleeping.  
“It’s like a zoo,” Dante muttered happily from the doorway, pizza box in one hand, half-devoured slice in the other.

“Ok,” Nero took a deep breath and started towards the kitchen. “I’m getting coffee, when I come back you are going to explain this.” He pointed at Griffon.

Inside the kitchen was quiet, Nero kept one ear trained on the living room where he could hear Griffon muttering to Dante, apparently trying to scrounge a pizza slice. Nero tried to focus on his breathing while the kettle boiled. He’d gone to bed last night with Dante passed out in his bed, Vergil on the sofa and nothing else. He’d woken up this morning to one of V’s old familiars in his bedroom, another on the stairs and another around the sofa.

V was part of Vergil, so obviously that made the familiar’s Vergil’s, so he guessed it wasn’t weird for them to turn up. But he could have sworn Dante had said something about killing them at some point. They’d stayed independent after V and Urizen reformed and they had tried to fight Dante, to stop him getting to Vergil. They hadn’t survived the fight.

So why were they here now?

Finishing making his coffee, Nero padded back out to the living room.

“Aww come on,” Griffon was standing on the floor at Dante’s feet. Like a pigeon watching someone eat a sandwich. “You got loads up there.”

“No.” Dante said. “Now move before I kick you.” Griffon walked away in the awkward manner of birds everywhere, and Nero had to hide a smile at the sullen creature.

“You’ll want to explain this,” Nero gestured to the sofa where his father slept half buried under a demon cat while a golem glowered at them all.

“Well, uhh,” Griffon started still staring at Dante’s pizza. Nero snapped his fingers.

“Oi Chicken, up here,” he snapped. “Come on, before I deep fry you in butter.”

“Look kid, I aint exactly sure,” Griffon muttered. “Last thing I remember was Dante here, putting us all down.” Shadow growled loudly from the sofa. “I said I was sorry!” Griffon snapped. “Next thing I know I’m in this dump, Vergil’s out like a light and your snoring loud enough to wake the entire town.”

“I don’t snore,” Nero muttered.

“Sure,” Griffon snickered. Nero rolled his eyes.

“So, you don’t know why you’re here?” Nero said. There was a low rumble from Shadow.

“Big bad kitty says we’re here to keep him safe,” Griffon muttered, turning to look at Shadow. “You realise he isn’t V anymore, right? He’s strong enough to rule the demon world if he wanted to. How are we going to keep him safe?” The cat growled and Griffon looked thoughtful.

“What?” Nero said.

“Kitty isn’t making sense,” Griffon said.

“What’s new,” Dante said, still leaning against the door jam and savouring his pizza.

“What did it say?” Nero pressed.

“That we keep him safe by staying out here,” Griffon said. Shadow growled louder this time and Griffon sparked, red lightening flickering over his feathers. “I swear if you keep blaming me, I’m going to fry you.”

“No fighting,” Nero said, feeling his own trigger flickering across his shoulders in warning.

“Then tell her to stop blaming me!” Griffon shrieked. Nero raised his eyebrows. “The mangy moggy think’s it’s my fault Vergil’s having nightmares.” 

“Ok, that makes even less sense than contagious nightmares did,” Nero said, pulling out a bar stool.

“Ahh,” Dante said. “Maybe not.” Nero turned to glare at his uncle.

“They’re Vergil’s nightmares,” Dante said around a mouthful of Pizza. “The literal personification of…” Dante trailed off. Nero raised an eyebrow at the older hunter. “Oh, I think I get what’s happened.” Dante grinned widely. “Suddenly I’m a lot less pissed at having my house invaded.” 

“You got it partly right their champ,” Griffon said. “We were created from Vergil’s abominable thoughts while he was Nelo Angelo.”

“That sounds made up,” Nero drawled. Griffon sighed loudly.

“Look kid, when your dear pops here decided to shish kabab himself, he cast out everything he hated about himself, everything. His humanity, gone, turned into a scrawny kid.” Shadow growled. “Shut up,” Griffon muttered, then coughed when Shadow continued to growl. “Yeah, I liked him to.” He turned back to face Nero. “He also cast out his memories from when he was Nelo Angelo.” Griffon opened his wings wide. “Resulting in yours truly, the fleabag and the mindless muck puddle.”

“You’re made from his nightmares,” Nero said, feeling like he was starting to understand.

“When we died, we re-joined with Vergil,” Griffon slumped a bit, his wings coming low. “I ... um, I didn’t think that would happen.”

“Sharp as a marble,” Dante said, but it didn’t sound cruel.

“Yeah, well,” Griffon muttered, head hanging low with his wings. “I figured we’d just stop existing, poof, gone up in smoke.”

“You sound disappointed,” Nero said. Griffon shrugged.

“But you went back into Vergil, you gave him his nightmares back,” Dante finished stepping close to Griffon.

“Not on purpose! We weren’t trying to go back. I thought it would end us, end the nightmares!” Griffon yelled, his body tensed, his eyes closed, and his head turned away as if he expected Dante to hurt him. But the devil hunter went down into a squat in front of the bird and put a hand on the demons’ head.

“Marble,” he said after a brief rub of the feathers. He stood back up. “So did Vergil stab himself again? Am I going to find a scrawny goth in one of the cupboards?”

“No and no,” Griffon said. “V and Urizen are to entwined now to separate.”

“You know that how?” Nero said but before the bird could answer Shadow yowled, lunging forward and rubbing his head into Vergil’s face.

“Sleeping beauty is finally awake, I see,” Dante grinned at his brother who was trying to sit up under a flurry of enthusiastic head bumps.

“Dante? What?”

“We’ve been trying to figure that out,” Dante reached forward and taking Shadow by the scruff pulled the big cat back. A massive dark hand descended onto the Devil hunter’s shoulder as the golem moved.

“Easy big guy, I’m just giving him some space,” Dante grinned at the monster. The creature seemed to pause for a moment before shimmering and losing form. Nero pulled a face as the demon melted and the resulting slurry pulled back from the sofa and into the shadows.

“He’s always been more instinct than actual thought,” Griffon said. “He likes dark corners though.” Griffon walked forward, flapping his wings once to get himself up off the floor and onto the sofa next to Vergil. Vergil looked around the room, at his family, at the cat struggling to get out of Dante’s clutches and the bird sitting next to him watching him expectantly.

“This is unexpected,” Vergil said eventually. Nero nearly put his head in his hands, but controlled the impulse. Griffon tilted his head before flying upwards and disappearing into the upstairs hallway.

“Vergil your cats mental,” Dante eventually let go of Shadow, who trotted over to Vergil and sat in front of him.

“Hello,” Vergil blinked at the large panther in front of him, mouth open in a cat grin.

A book fell from the ceiling where Griffon was now circling. It bounced off Vergil’s head and into his lap. Vergil glared at the bird who landed on the banister.

“V used to read when he was confused, said it helped guide him,” the bird looked proud of himself. Nero glanced at the book in his father’s lap, it was one of Dante’s and seemed to be about how to fix motorbikes.

“I’m going to make more coffee,” he said, his having already gone cold untouched. “Dante give me a hand.”

“You got two hands,” Dante muttered. Nero glared hard enough that his uncle sighed and followed him into the kitchen. “What?”

“Huh?” Nero frowned, refilling the kettle.

“Figured you wanted to talk to me,” Dante leaned forward and smirked, “privately.”

“What? No, I’m trying to give him some space to…” Nero struggled. “I don’t know, come to terms with those three.”

“Ahh,” Dante muttered. “Suppose it must be kinda weird.”

“Yeah, I mean it’s weird enough for us, and they aren’t our nightmares,” the kettle boiled, Dante handed Nero the terrible instant coffee he favoured. “Do you think he did it on purpose?” Nero asked

“How do you mean?” Dante frowned.

“Well, last night after I dropped your drunk ass in bed, I spoke to him. We ended up talking about V.”

“I think I remember hearing that,” Dante muttered.

“I was trying to convince him that power would not fix his issues, that V wasn’t exactly powerful, and he didn’t have…”

“Yeah, but V was around when the nightmare demons were,” Dante interrupted, pushing his nephew towards a conclusion.

“So V never had nightmares because those three were out and about,” Nero muttered putting cream into the three coffees and six sugars into Dante’s cup, five went into Vergil’s, Nero did not want diabetes so he went without sugar. “He did it on purpose.”

“Maybe,” Dante said. “Maybe you just jogged his thick scull into remembering how he coped before. Either way, good job, kid.”

“This doesn’t fix things,” Nero huffed.

“Sure, it does,” Dante said, picking up the tray with the cups. “I keep saying you should be a therapist.” He headed back into the living room. Nero waited a moment, counting slowly to ten, before following, walking into Dante’s back as his uncle had stopped right in the doorway.

“What are you doing?” Dante was snickering. Nero peered over Dante’s shoulder, seeing his father vigorously scratching at Shadows neck, ears and chin. The oversized panther had its eyes closed in pleasure and was purring like a bike engine.

“I like cats,” Vergil muttered as an explanation.

Nero watched as Shadow basked in the affection given to it. Griffon fluttered down from the bannister and landed on the sofa next to Vergil. Nero bit back a snicker as the bird shuffle walked closer and closer until he was pressed up against Vergil’s side. Vergil glanced at the demon.

“You like awesome birds to, right?” the demon said. A small smile crossed Vergil’s features and one of his hands rubbing at Shadow moved to Griffon and scratched at his head feathers.

“Aww yeah,” Griffon muttered, “little lower, ahh that’s the spot.”

“See now how are you going to drink your coffee?” Dante said.

“I won’t have time for coffee,” Vergil muttered, still focused on the two demons next to him. Dante frowned.

“There’s always time for coffee,” Nero mumbled, pushing passed Dante and sitting down on the sofa on the other side of Griffon, who was still crooning loudly.

“No, I have a job I need to do,” Vergil said. As if that was enough explanation. Nero reached over the bird and nudged his father’s shoulder. “You recall the client I mentioned last night? He is in the market for a particular artifact. I plan to obtain it.”

“Special job, huh?” Dante said, drinking his own scalding coffee in one swallow. “Lucrative?”

“I wouldn’t be making the trip otherwise,” Vergil said.

“We’re going on a treasure hunt!” Griffon crowed. Vergil sighed and stopped his scratching. Shadow let out a sound of pure devastation.

“Keep your fur on,” Griffon said. “We’re going hunting!” Shadow stood up and walked to the door.

“Guess their coming to,” Dante smirked.

“I wasn’t intending any company,” Virgil said firmly, glaring at his brother as Dante drank Vergil’s coffee.

“What, you said you didn’t want it,” Dante grinned. Vergil sighed and stood up; he spent a moment fussing with his clothes, which were rumpled from sleep. “Wait, I gotta do something real quick.” Dante said before he walked over to his brother and punched him square in the jaw.

“Hey!” Nero snapped, almost dropping his cup.

“That’s for disappearing,” Dante said, and punched Vergil again. “That’s for not answering your phone.” He grabbed Vergil’s shoulder and hoicked him to his chest in an awkward one-armed hug. “That is for coming back, asshole.” Vergil said nothing, just blinked. Shadow let out a snarl that cut off abruptly after the second punch.

“Fucking hell, Dante,” Nero snapped. “Big boy words next time!” Dante pulled back from the impromptu hug and grinned at his brother.

“Now wait,” Dante snapped, “I gotta get dressed first!”

“Who said you were coming?” Vergil hissed.

“I did, you owe me,” Dante snarled. “A good stretch will go along way to making me feel better.”

“Letting you punch me in the face wasn’t enough?” Vergil snapped, but Dante had already disappeared up the stairs to get dressed. “I’m not giving him a cut.”

“Hey,” Griffon flapped up and landed on Vergil’s shoulder. It was awkward. The bird was enormous. Vergil extended his arm to make the position easier. “You think we can get breakfast on the way?” Shadow yowled in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please review, I’d love to hear what you think of the chapter.  
> For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out [my website](https://katiemarie21.wordpress.com)


	3. Chapter 3

Nero sometimes wondered about his life.

When he had been growing up everything had seemed normal, but the day he’d gotten his ‘arm’ things had got weird. Things weren’t always bad, more often than not, these days things were great. He had a great life, he had a family, friends, a job he loved, and they needed him. It satisfied him, his life. But that didn’t mean that now and then he wasn’t hit with just how frigging weird things were.

This morning he’d woken up to find physical personifications of his fathers Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder cavorting in the living room. Now he was sitting in a quiet side street watching a demonic bird try to eat a breakfast burrito.

Griffon was standing on one leg; the other leg was holding the offending burrito. The oversized bird wobbled precariously while it tried to remain upright, hold the burrito upright so its contents didn’t fall to the ground (where Nero suspected Shadow would steal them), unwrap the foil from the burrito and eat at the same time.

“You want some help,” he offered, unable to hide his smirk.

“I can feed myself,” Griffon muttered.

“I could at least unwrap it for you,” Nero said. Griffon hissed at him and Nero held up his hands, so much for trying to be nice.

He was still watching Griffon fail to eat the burrito when Dante and Vergil came out of the shop. Dante carrying a large bag of food for himself, Vergil only had a coffee, having already been in once to get everyone else breakfast.

“They gave me extra cheese,” Dante grinned like the servers had given him gold and not just cheese.

“Great,” Nero smiled at his uncle who was opening his bag of food. He envied Dante’s ability to eat the way he did, Nero’s metabolism wasn’t quite on Dante levels. Though he wondered if it would be now, his demon had well and truly woken.

“No!” Dante glared at Shadow who had long since finished its breakfast and had now noticed Dante’s sheer amount of food. The cat was sitting inches away from his feet giving him a look that conveyed how Shadow had eaten nothing before in its entire life, was utterly starving and would very much like it if Dante would share.

“Hey,” Nero called noticing his father approaching Griffon who still hadn’t managed his burrito. “He said he’s…” Nero trailed off as Griffon silently let Vergil take the burrito, unwrap the thing and hold it up so the oversized bird could tear into it with ease.

“I said no!” Dante glared at Shadow, who was making pitiful subvocal sounds. “Vergil come get your kitty.”

“Maybe if you didn’t eat enough food to feed six armies Shadow wouldn’t feel the need to help you,” Vergil said and did not help his brother.

“Shut up,” Dante muttered then glared back at Shadow. “You honestly think after the display this morning I’m going to share my breakfast with you, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“You had a pizza for breakfast,” Nero reminded him.

“That was pre-breakfast,” Dante said, still glaring at Shadow. “I’m not falling for it.” Shadow made another pitiful sound and Dante groaned, ‘accidentally’ dropping some of his cheese covered burrito. Nero snickered at his uncle, who, the moment the cat was distracted, started tearing through the rest of his food.

Finishing Dante’s offering Shadow moved over the Vergil who was still feeding Griffon. Shadow yowled.

“You’re not having his too,” Vergil said, through his free hand came down to rub Shadows ears.

“Are all demons like this,” Nero said. Vergil raised an eyebrow at him. “Capable of constantly eating?”

“Maintaining strength uses a lot of energy, so yes they eat a lot,” Vergil said. “Though these two maintain their energy from my own, they need not eat.” Both Shadow and Griffon made pitiful sounds. “They enjoy it.”

“Ugh,” Dante made a show of patting his stomach, Nero turned to glare at his uncle.

“Did you seriously just inhale three burritos in that time?”

“Kitty ate half of one,” Dante said.

“You’re gross, Dante,” Nero said.

“If everyone is quite done,” Vergil said wiping his hand on napkins he’d produced from somewhere. “I’d like to get back before lunch, I have deadlines.”

“I’m good,” Dante hoisted himself to his feet, tossed his empty food bag into a skip and burped loudly. Vergil shook his head and glanced at Nero.

“I’ve been good for a while,” Nero said. Vergil nodded, turned to face away from his son and brother and pulled the Yamato free.

Nero never tired of watching Vergil cut through literal space, the sword flashed, moving fast enough that it was a glint of light in his eye and nothing more. The air around Vergil shimmered before opening along the gashes he’d cut. The opening widened and without preamble Vergil stepped through, followed by his familiars.

Dante bowed to Nero comically and gestured for him to go first. Nero punched his uncles’ shoulder but took the invitation. Vergil leading and Dante at the rear the ground disappeared into the warp in space.

As much as Nero admired the ability to travel this way, he did not enjoy it, a few steps into the void and his stomach rolled, threatening to bring up his two cups of coffee and his breakfast burrito. 

Fortunately, the journey was only a few steps and Nero soon emerged into a damp field.

The air was cool and wet; it was drizzling. The sky was overcast and the land verdant and lush.

“Where are we?” Nero said.

“England,” Vergil said already several paces ahead. Looking around Nero could see open grassland, dotted with sheep, horses and cows. Shadow and Griffon immediately took off after the closest sheep.

“Farm?” he muttered.

“Not quite,” Vergil said as Nero jogged to catch up with him. “Bodmin.”

“Ok,” Nero said, not knowing what the hell Bodmin was. “We are heading there?” he pointed to a small building, it looked like a cottage with a very tall chimney.

“No,” Vergil smirked. “What I’m looking for has significantly more interesting properties than tin.” Instead, he kept walking until he reached a tiny standing stone circle. The circle was wide but the stones small. Nero had seen pictures of this kind of thing and had often expected the stones to be close together and much bigger.

“I’ve seen better,” Dante muttered coming up behind Nero.

“Not everything has to be grand, Dante,” Vergil muttered. “This place is trying not to be noticed, it wouldn’t be very good at that if it marked its entrance.” Nero watched his father as he walked around the wide circle edge. He flinched when he heard Griffon shriek with laughter and lighting struck three of the sheep.

“Here,” Vergil called. The two familiars stopped tormenting the local livestock and returned, though Shadow looked far to bloody for it’s playing to have been entirely innocent. Vergil said nothing but triggered his inner devil and tapped the top of the closest stone which shimmered briefly. Nero watched as Vergil reverted to his human self, crouched and walked into the stone, vanishing.

“Wait for us!” Dante snapped, running after his brother and body sliding into and through the stone. Nero followed in a slightly more sedate manner than his uncle. Shivering as his skin broke out in Goosebumps as he went through the stone.

Immediately the grey drizzle of the Cornish moor was gone, they were in a tunnel. The walls were dry dirt and crumbled when Nero touched them; the air was still and stale, and the only light came from Griffon who sparked with lightning in his excitement.

“This place smells weird!” he crowed from Vergil’s shoulder, the tunnel being too narrow for him to comfortably spread his wings and fly. From further down the tunnel Shadow roared, the sound echoed around them before dying away, only for Shadow to roar again. “Yes, we hear you, well done,” Griffon called, his voice echoing, he chuckled before letting out a deafening bird screech, reminiscent of an eagle.

“Quiet,” Vergil said, Nero heard his footsteps but couldn’t see anything clearly beyond Griffon. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Stepping forward, he stumbled over Dante who was lying on the floor after his body slide.

“Watch it!” Dante grumbled getting up.

“You watch it,” Nero shoved his uncle and dodged when Dante tried to return the attack. Dante went headfirst into the tunnel wall, sending a shower of dirt down around them.  
“If you could wait until after retrieval to destroy the tomb, I’d appreciate it,” Vergil called from further down the tunnel. Nero frowned, still unable to see very far. He pulled out his phone and turned on the light.

“Ow!” Griffon cawed burrowing his head under a wing, “Maybe warn me next time pipsqueak.”

“This place is dead,” Dante muttered. “Like really dead.”

“It is a tomb, what did you expect?” Vergil said.

“Uhh, demons,” Dante sounded genuinely disappointed. “If there’s nothing here protecting your Maguffin then whys it so valuable.”

“I didn’t say it was unguarded,” Vergil said. “I said the places primary defence was to remain hidden, grand entranceways and hoards of demons lining the entryways are hardly going to accomplish that.”

“It’s boring,” Dante said.

“I didn’t ask you to come along,” Vergil said. “I intended to do this alone.”

“Aww, you trying to leave your baby brother behind?” Dante smirked.

“When this is a retrieval that requires stealth and said brother’s idea of subtlety is to body slide into unknown territory yes.”

“Um…” Nero called. His father and uncle turned to face him. “If we’re meant to be stealthy, then we’re messing this up. What with the body sliding and the roars and screams?”

“When you both announced your intention to accompany me I gave up on stealth,” Vergil said.

“What you gotta be sneaking for anyway,” Griffon said pulling his head out from under his wing. “Your powerful, nothing here for you to fear.”

“Fear or my preservation is not the only reason for stealth,” Vergil said as they started walking again. “I had hoped to enter and leave undetected because the item I am retrieving is perishable, it is manufactured by a creature and I had hoped that if I left without notice, I could return and procure another item. As it is, we will have already been detected, we will be challenged, and we will kill the creature.”

“Oh,” Nero said.

“Bit fatalistic there,” Dante said.

“It is no matter, the item and the creature are rare, it is not one of a kind however, there are others.”

“Maybe we don’t kill it?” Nero said. “Maybe we leave and try again later, quietly.”

“This is the only one available at this time,” Vergil said. “These items are perishable and it will not allow us to simply take it. Either violence or stealth has to be employed and Dante already ruined stealth.”

“Your cat shouted first,” Dante said.

“After you body slammed into the wall!” Griffon cawed. “Only I can blame the kitty.”

“Where is the kitty?” Nero said he was answered by a soft yowl only a few feet ahead. The tunnel abruptly opened out into a cavern. The celling high and domed was covered in hanging pillars of rock that glowed, offering a sudden abundance of light that Nero simply hadn’t noticed until he stepped into the cavern. Shadow was sitting upright in the centre of the space, looking for all the world like a great dark statue.

Nero went up to the cat and put a hand on its head, the sound the beast made in response made him smile. It was the same sound Kyrie’s kitten made when you touched it unexpectedly, Kyrie called it her activation sound. Shadows version of the sound however was far louder.

“What you stop here for?” Nero asked when Shadow looked up at him. “You waiting for us?”

“She knows this is where we will fight,” Vergil said moving Yamato into position.

There was an abrupt flurry of feathers and Vergil was left blinking, his hand empty. The sword was gone. Griffon was suddenly howling with glee as he flew off the Yamato clutched firmly in his talons. His laughter near hysterical.

“Wow, he thinks he’s funny,” Nero muttered. Vergil smiled with far too many teeth on show. Suddenly the space next to Nero was empty, Vergil was in the air in a flash of blue, right in front of the bird. But Griffon was quick, he banked hard right still laughing hysterically.

“No, it’s mine now!”

Vergil hung in the air for a moment before vanishing again, cutting off Griffons escape. Griffon banked again and Vergil teleported again, and again and again. Until the bird collapsed in an exhausted heap.

“You’re too fast,” Griffon gave up his prize, releasing the sword unharmed from his talons.

“Ludicrously fast,” Nero muttered.

“That’s what your mom said,” Dante snorted. Nero felt his eyes widen as he turned to glare at his giggling uncle. “I couldn’t help it,” Dante yelped as Nero swung his sword at him. Dante leapt backwards right into Vergil’s chest; the Yamato glinted for a second before it was thrust into Dante’s guts. Vergil leaned over his brother’s shoulder.

“I assure you she had no complaints,” he hissed. Nero felt his face go bright red.

Fortunately, his embarrassment was short-lived when the wall behind them exploded outward. 

End Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please review, I’d love to hear what you think of the chapter.  
> For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out [my website](https://katiemarie21.wordpress.com)


	4. Chapter 4

Nero’s ears were ringing, and his vision was full of black spots.

As he started to regain his equilibrium, he felt the blood running down his face and spotted the blood-stained rubble at his feet. Typical, he had to get hit on the head with rocks.

As the ringing in his ears subsided, he could hear the sound of blades, glancing up he saw the back end of an enormous creature as it fled from Shadows spinning form. Griffon flew after it, sending lighting ahead of him and screeching blue murder and glee.

“Up you get,” Dante hoisted Nero to his feet and grinned.

“Aww did baby boy get a bump on the noggin,” Griffon crowed as he circled back.

“Quiet bird,” Nero snapped, wiping the blood off. “Before I start looking up casserole recipes.” 

“What was that?” Dante asked looking to Vergil.

“Our guardian,” Vergil shrugged. “Either way it’s in the way.”

“Guardian?” Nero frowned. “As in tomb guardian or parental guardian?”

“I call the bounty,” Dante grinned pulling his blade.

“There is no bounty, Dante,” Vergil pinched his nose. “I’m here for the egg.”

“Parental guardian then,” Nero said.

“Egg?” Griffon said at the same time.

“Yes,” Vergil said, his voice tight. “I am taking the egg, if I’d have been able to come alone,” he paused to glare at everyone. “I could have come in taken the egg unnoticed and returned here for another in a few months.”

“But mama aint going to let you,” Dante said. Vergil shook his head. “So,” Dante clapped his hands together. “I’m going to get the egg.”

“The hell you are,” Vergil snapped. “It’s mine.”

“I deserve it, it’s my egg,”

“You don’t even know what it’s for,” Vergil yelled.

“It’s for selling,” Dante looked very proud of himself. “Sell it to your client, get the money, buy pizza.”

“You are not buying pizza with my egg,” Vergil snarled but his anger felt forced, he was fighting not to smirk. Dante was making no effort to hide his amusement.

“Hey if the egg can be exchanged for money,” Griffon said. “Then I can get more burritos!” Shadow yowled in agreement and stood facing the wrecked tunnel the creature had disappeared down. The cats body language clearly signifying a desire to hunt.

“No way are you getting the egg,” Dante said to both Griffon and Shadow.

“The egg is mine!” Griffon screeched.

All combatants turned to face Nero and stared.

“What the hell,” Nero shrugged. “The egg is mine.”

“1,2,3…GO!” Dante shouted and everyone erupted down the tunnel after the fleeing demon.

Nero had always been aware of the twin’s tendency for competition, but what he had witnessed before had always had an unpleasant edge to it. This felt entirely different.

He held back and let them take the lead, watching as Dante tried constantly to trip his brother, at one point attempting to rugby tackle him, only to fail when Vergil teleported out of harm’s way. Yet, Nero noticed Vergil did not teleport particularly far away. Instead the older of the two moved only a little way ahead of his brother, slashed a cut into the air, opened a rip in space and dodged to the left. Dante who was right on Vergil tail had to put his breaks on hard enough that he went arse over tit but did not fall into the portal Vergil had tried to trap him in. 

Nero stumbled when Shadow made an effort to get under his feet and trip him.

“You cheating shit,” Nero snapped kicking out at the feline. Shadow took a moment to look far too pleased with itself before continuing the chase, turning itself into literal shadows to slip past the two high order demons in front of her.

Griffon was in the lead, Dante and Vergil being far too focused on tripping each other to notice they had lost the lead. Nero realised their distraction and used their it to get passed them when Vergil tackled Dante sending them both spinning off to the side of the tunnel.

“Later losers,” he hollered when he felt he was a safe distance away from the now warring brothers. However, his lead was short lived when two devil triggered demons flew over his head. “Assholes!”

The two brothers dropped out of Devil Trigger and Dante turned while still running to hoot gleefully at Nero. Vergil used this opportunity to grab his brothers coat collar and fling him away. Nero watched as Dante sailed majestically over his head. He learned from Dante’s error and did not stop to gloat. He concentrated on moving forwards, not quite daring to overtake his father for fear of ending up inside a portal. he figured he could grab the egg once he reached whatever nest this thing had made. 

The nest was housed inside a great cavern, the demon in question curled around it protectively. The demon was reptilian in the sense it had scales and its four legs were out to the sides of its body rather than beneath. Its face was feline in nature however and it put Nero in mind of a lion when it roared at them and frills erupted around its neck, like a mane, only formed from kin rather than hair. 

"Eat shit!" Griffon screamed at the demon and fired lighting. but either his aim was off or he wasn’t aiming at the demon at all, his lighting came towards the opening they were all coming through, Shadow darted out of the way, Vergil teleported and Nero got a face full of red lightening. 

The demon guarding its nest looked confused. 

"You flying freak," Nero hissed, his hair gently smoking. "I'm going to pluck every single feather, one at a time until your bald!" he leapt towards Griffon only to fall to the side when Shadow hit him. He landed with the oversized cat on top of him. Shadow looked disoriented as if it had been thrown rather than leapt at him intentionally. 

"You bunch of butt grapes!" Nero heard Dante yell and figured he must have caught up with them. 

Shadow stood and leap-t off of Nero and went for Griffon, pulling the bird out of the sky as it tried to squeeze itself under the lion-lizard demon to get to the egg. 

Nero got to his feet and watched his father and uncle for a moment, neither had drawn a sword, instead they seemed to be playing tag. occasionally bursting into a lower or higher demon form to flee or give chase. 

Nero glanced at the lion-lizard demon that was watching him. It looked very confused. Nero shrugged and drew his blade. 

"Guess I'm getting the egg," he muttered to himself and launched upwards, swinging his blade at the demon's eyes. 

The demon wasn't difficult to defeat, through the fact it breathed fire caught Nero by surprise. he spent most of his fight with it trying to get Griffon to leave him alone long enough that he could get in a few easy hits. 

by the time the demon fell, Nero's coat was singed, and he was breathing heavy. Griffon was lying in an exhausted heap on the floor and shadow was slinking round behind the demon's body nuzzling at the egg, trying to roll it away. 

"Aww no you don't," Nero said, stepping forward and claiming his prize. "I killed the demon; I get the stupid egg." Shadow slumped down and stared up at him, eyes wide and brightly coloured. "That shit aint going to work pussy cat. I still remember you biting me." 

Nero turned and spotted Griffon, still just a bundle of feathers panting the phrase "time out," repeatedly. 

Dante and Vergil were still fighting. 

Nero sat down on the edge of the nest to watch, Shadow shuffled over and put its oversized maw in his lap. Nero absently started rubbing the cat’s ears. Griffon looked up the moment Shadow started purring. The bird made a song and dance out of pulling itself to its feet and awkwardly walking over to Nero. it sat next to him and coughed. Nero snorted but put the egg between his feet to free up his hand to scratch at Griffons head feathers. 

"You two suck," Nero muttered. 

"Don't forget to buy burritos," Griffon said. "You owe us, if we hadn't distracted the demon it would have eaten you alive." 

"Uhh huh," Nero muttered. "Sure, it would have." 

"Do they know the fights over?" Griffon asked when a ruckus laugh from Dante reached them. Nero glanced at his uncle who had somehow managed to trap his father beneath him and pin his arms. The pin lasted all of two moments while Vergil wriggled and got his legs between him and Dante and then used them to launch Dante away. 

"I don't think so," Nero said. 

Vergil got to his feet grinning and went for his brother again. Nero found himself snickering at the two, it was like watching kids play. if the kids were actually overpowered demon lords who had literal fire erupting from their skin. 

"It's cute," Griffon said quietly. 

"They’re trying to kill each other," Nero said. 

"Nah, you know that aint true, this is a game," Griffon pushed his head harder under Nero’s fingers. "It's nice to see them play." he glanced at Nero. "V had a weird sense of humour, he tried to play with us a bit, but he was way too fragile." 

"He told me you stole his cane once," Nero said. 

"Yeah," Griffon chuckled. "Did you see Vergil chase me when I took the sword!" 

"I did," Nero said. "You're lucky he didn't put you in a portal." 

"I tried to get V to chase me once," Griffon said. "But he couldn't, I think he wanted to though." Shadow rumbled in agreement. "Yeah, he tried to be all serious and whatnot, but I think he's just a much a goofball as Dante is, maybe a different kind of goofball." 

"He's a nerd," Nero said, a small rock flew over and hit him in the face. Barely a pebble it didn't hurt. 

"I heard that," Dante yelled. "No one says that but me." 

"You just called me a haemorrhoid," Vergil panted, winded by the impromptu game. 

"Like I said, only me," Dante grinned. "you have to throw rocks at him if he calls me names though." 

"I agree with Nero when he calls you names, they are accurate names," Vergil said darting forwards, knocking his brother into a wall and following to pin him. 

"So, mean," Dante said. Vergil muttered something a little too quiet for Nero to make out, but Dante laughed and grinned when Vergil let him go so Nero figured it wasn't his business. 

"Where’s the egg?" Vergil said walking over to Nero. He was a mess, his hair sticking up every which way, his entire body covered in cave dust and grime. But no blood. Dante came up behind him throwing an arm over Vergil's shoulder, he was in much the same condition. Dirty but unharmed. 

"What happened to mama?" Dante glanced at the demon corpse behind Nero. 

"I won," Nero held up the egg. 

"We helped!" Griffon said. "Nero agreed he couldn’t have done it without us, and we're splitting the money." Shadow yowled in agreement. 

"That sounds like bullshit," Dante said.

"Falsehood," Vergil muttered at the same time. Nero smiled and held the egg out to Vergil.

"Payment for letting us tag along, this was fun," he smiled. Vergil took the egg. Pulling the Yamato free he cut a portal into the air revealing Dante's shop. he placed the egg carefully through the portal and let it close. 

"Uhh," Dante said. "You closed it before we could go through." 

"You can walk home," Vergil said turning and heading towards the exit. 

"Hey wait, no way!" Dante yelled chasing his brother, suddenly he had a horrendous limp. "I'm terribly injured, I can't walk home." 

"Walk Dante," Vergil called. Nero sighed and got to his feet.

"Come on you two, we need to keep an eye on them." 

By the time the group reached the stone circle and emerged back onto the moors of Bodmin, Dante had managed to clamber onto Vergil's back and was being carried, due to entirely made up horrendous injuries. Griffon had landed on Nero's head and refused to get off. Only Shadow seemed happy to walk unaided. The oversized beast bounding out across the moor to chase sheep again. 

"Please tell me you're going to portal from here?" Nero said. 

"I think so, yes," Vergil sighed. Dante was snoring loudly and drooling onto his brother's shoulder. "This particular torment seems to have backfired." 

"I won’t tell him," Nero promised. Vergil nodded and awkwardly pulled the Yamato free before handing her to Nero. 

"uhh," Nero said. 

"Focus," Vergil said. 

"I've never cut a portal," Nero said. 

"You had Yamato," Vergil raised an eye. "She accepted you." 

"Yeah but I didn't know it cut portals!" Nero said trying to give the sword back. Vergil shook his head and hoisted his brother more comfortably. 

"Concentrate and picture where you want to go, she will resonate with you."

Nero took a deep breath and tried to picture Dante's shop. he remembered how it smelled, how his feet stuck to the floor in the kitchen. How comfortable the bar stools were, the way the pool table felt when he leaned on it. He felt the Yamato respond, the power in the sword almost vibrating. 

"cut," Vergil said. 

Nero lifted the blade and slashed the air. 

Then he threw up. 

The entire world around him spun sickeningly, and his head erupted in pain and dizziness. his stomach cramped and for one horrifying second, he thought his bowels were going to move. He felt a hand gab his collar and suddenly he was weightless for a long moment before landing with a crash on the wooden floor of Dante's living room/office. 

"Oh god," he moaned. 

"Not bad," Vergil said dropping his brother gently onto the sofa. Dante mumbled something and rolled onto his side, facing the back of the sofa. Griffon who had detached himself from Nero at some point flew over and settled himself on Dante's head instead. Shadow padded over and leapt onto Dante, squeezing itself onto the sofa with the demon hunter. 

"Heavy," Dante grumbled. 

"You did well," Vergil said, Nero felt a hand on his forehead but when he tried to open his eyes his brain felt like someone was pushing big rusty pins into it, so he closed them. "You managed to get a portal to the shop open long enough for us to get through and you seem to still have your mind intact." 

Nero really hoped Vergil was joking. Hadn't Griffon said V had a weird sense of humour? 

Nero opened his eyes, and the shop was dark. he sat up abruptly and winced at the pain in his head, stomach and back. However, the pain was nothing compared to what he remembered opening the portal. That was awful, he was never, ever, ever doing that again. how the hell did Vergil so that and make it look effortless? 

Looking around he noted the darkness, it was pitch black outside. Getting to his feet everything trembled and attempting the stairs seemed impossible for just a moment. But Nero was determined and one step at a time he managed to get up to the first floor. 

“And now beside thee, bleating lamb, I can lie down and sleep, or think on Him who bore thy name, graze after thee, and weep. For, washed in life’s river, my bright mane for ever, shall shine like the gold, as I guard o’er the fold.” 

Vergil’s voice was measured and calm as he read and Nero found himself getting lost in the words, for a moment losing focus on the residual pain he felt. 

“Today was really fun,” Dante cut in ruining the peace. Though his voice was slow, like he’d been asleep. “I missed playing with you.” 

“Is that what you were doing?” Vergil said. “I was trying to kill you.” 

“I missed you trying to kill me, Dante said, his voice truly muffled as if he was talking into a pillow. 

“We should do it more often,” Griffon said. 

“I agree,” Vergil said. Nero pushed open the door. 

They were sitting in Dante’s king-sized bed, well, Vergil was sitting up, pillows bunched up behind him, blanket pulled up to his waist and a book open in his lap. Dante was lying down, one arm thrown over Vergil’s waist under the book. His face was buried into his brothers’ side. Shadow was longing across the foot of the bed, Griffon sat on the headboard. 

“You all are having a party?” Nero said. 

“I went to bed,” Vergil said. 

“We followed,” Griffon crowed. Shadow flick its tail hitting the book. 

“Very well,” Vergil turned the page then looked up at Nero. “Join us?” Nero frowned at the bed. Vergil elbowed Dante who was breathing soft and heavy with sleep, Dante snorted awake and blinking shuffled over, Vergil followed suit, creating space for Nero. 

“I still feel like shit,” Nero mutter clambering into the bed with his family, forcing his feet under Shadow and leaning back onto the headboard feeling Griffon pulling at his hair for a moment. 

“Cutting portals is draining and required focus and talent,” Vergil said. “You’ll get better.”

“I don’t want to try again,” Nero said. “At least for a little while.” Vergil stared at him for a long moment before giving a small shrug and turning back to the book. 

“I have no name; I am but two days old. What shall I call thee? I happy am,  
Joy is my name …”

End Fic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please review, I’d love to hear what you think of the chapter.  
> For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out [my website](https://katiemarie21.wordpress.com)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, please review, I’d love to hear what you think of the chapter. 
> 
> For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates as well as weekly blogs check out www.katiemariewriter.co.uk


End file.
